The struggles Lewis Hamilton faced at Mercedes in recent years were difficult for many to witness, but this wasn’t the first challenging period in his F1 career. During his time at McLaren, there were several instances where he appeared visibly disheartened due to the car’s performance not meeting expectations.
Hamilton once reflected on how he felt during this tough period when the success he sought seemed out of reach. A video of him and the late, great Niki Lauda recently made the rounds on social media, showing the two discussing the psychology of a champion driver when facing difficulties.
“When people start questioning how good you are and people say ‘oh this person must be better’. It’s frustrating that you can’t react and fix it by going faster ‘cause you don’t have the car,” the former Mercedes driver said.
Lewis: “Living your life and preparing yourself to win and then arriving and finishing last. It’s demoralizing. Then you have the media talking things about you.”
“Especially as a driver you want to show the world that you’re the best and you can win races…”
Niki: “Which… pic.twitter.com/VGYdCBtNOv
— sin ⁴⁴ (@44britcedes) January 12, 2025
This reflected how Hamilton must have been feeling during the last three seasons of his career at Brackley. Mercedes entered a slump in 2022 because of their poor understanding of the ground-effect regulations, which turned out to be a major handicap. He never got a car good enough to fight for his eighth title since.
It mentally exhausted him, and towards the end of his final season with the team (2024), he had even lost all confidence. He looked defeated and was admittedly just waiting for the season to end.
However, many paddock insiders questioned whether Hamilton had lost his edge, comparing his recent performances to his dominant years with Mercedes from 2014 to 2020. Being outperformed by his younger teammate George Russell further fueled these doubts.
Despite this, drivers like Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas—both of whom have raced alongside Hamilton for years—voiced their support, arguing that it is too soon to count him out.
Has Hamilton still got it to win championships?
There is little doubt about Hamilton’s ability to maximize a good car’s potential to eke out a win on any given day. Even in 2024, he took the W15—which he claimed was the worst ever—to two wins, in Britain and Belgium.
Hamilton, with his first win, ended a 945-day winless streak and took his tally to 105 in Spa, further extending his haul as the most successful F1 driver of all time. Plus, his recovery drives in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi, where he started from outside the top ten and ended up competing for the podium was proof that Hamilton’s talent did not take any hit.
However, the fact that Hamilton hasn’t competed for the championship since 2021 may have caused some rustiness in certain aspects of his craft. His struggles with qualifying pace in 2024 emerged as a notable weakness. While he will be looking to address this, it won’t be easy as he approaches 40. Nonetheless, a driver of his caliber can never be counted out
